The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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CRAZY ELEPHANT
“GIMME GIMME GOOD LOVIN'”
(Joey Levine, Ritchie Cordell)
Bell 763
No. 12 May 3, 1969
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The story of Crazy Elephant appeared in a Cashbox article. According to Cashbox, a Welsh newspaper
called Mining News had mentioned the hard-rock activities of a group of coal miners who would dig by day
and play rock and roll by night. Cashbox also described how Neville Crisken, a London nightclub owner,
read this human-interest item and rushed to Wales to check out this crew. Upon his arrival, Crisken
descended “18,372,065 feet beneath the surface” and signed the blokes on the spot. When Mining News
inquired if the group was any good, Crisken was quoted as saying, “Who cares? All the publicity about how
I discovered them will guarantee their first album a million dollars in sales.”
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A fanciful tale indeed–especially since the Cashbox article was a complete fabrication. The story apparently
was planted by publicity people: Crazy Elephant was actually a studio creation courtesy of veteran
bubblegum-meisters Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz.
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Leading the studio group that actually laid down the sounds for “Gimme Gimme” was a former lead singer of
the Cadillacs, Richard Spencer, and song writer, Third Rail member Joey Levine, who was the voice of
REUNION and several of the disks bearing the name Ohio Express and KASENETZ-KATZ SINGING
ORCHESTRA CIRCUS.
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The unit that toured as Crazy Elephant consisted of five New Yorkers: ex-MUSIC EXPLOSION Bob Avery
(drums), Ronnie Bretone (bass), Hal Hing (credited with “[doing] various things as the feeling moves him”),
Larry Afuer (a.k.a. Larry Lafuer, lead vocals, organ), and someone named “Jethro” on flute, sax, guitar,
bass, and percussion.